The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer and Naturalist

I read the editorial review above for this book and almost didn't read it. I have to say I disagree with it. The biography does not necessarily focus on all his Beebe's personal issues, but it is a vibrant and gripping read about a very unique man. I thought it was extremely well done. Born in the last quarter of the nineteenth century in Brooklyn, it was still a world of forests and wildlife nearby for him to explore. This love of nature, and comfort away from the trappings of civilisation stayed with him all his life. But he also had this almost supernatural ability to dissociate himself from his possible fate - or even his reality and instead go beyond that to look at what was happening around him. So his observations were extraodinary. He was the first person to be travel down to 2000ft in the ocean in a small metal capsule. The enormous pressures could have caved in the tiny craft - it did even start leaking at some stage. Yet he broadcast live from it, and managed to make some ground breaking observations about his time there and the strange animals which dwelt there - some of which have never been seen since. Gould has divided this biography into four distinct sections which followed his life, Naturalist, Ornithologist, Marine Biologist and Tropical Ecologist. this is illustrated throughout with printed pictures on each page, the only drawback is that these pictures are all of poor to fair quality - a problem of matt paper combined with size of pictures and that they are all in black and white. Beebe's life is worth reading about and I think Gould's biography is an excellent reference, readable and engaging.

This is one of the most remarkable and enticing biographies I've ever read. I am a professional biologist and have always wanted to be able to express my enthusiasm for my work in words than transcend the sterility of "modern" science and politics. This work does this and I could only hope to express my own work in such an elegant way. I think Carol Grant Gould has done an exceptional job. Despite the restictions imposed upon her, I am mystified how she managed to pierce the veil that clouds the achievements of many scientists behind veils of scientific and religious intolerance. A remarkable work.

Adventure travelers interested in both nature and action will relish biographer Carol Grant Gould's Remarkable Life Of William Beebe: Explorer And Naturalist, an armchair biography which tells of one William Beebe, who became the first to see the ocean depths in a bathysphere, trekked the Himalayas and Malaysia in the early 1900s to study ecology, and brainstormed with Roosevelt and other naturalists of his times. A remarkable life and a series of remarkable contributions comes vividly to life in this memorable, entertaining, and highly recommended biography.

This is a wonderful book - a really engrossing story about an amazing man who was both an explorer and a scientist during the last century. If they made a movie about him, he'd probably be styled as an Indiana Jones type character, as he really did look death in the eye a few times in his lifetime - particularly during the dives he made in `the bathysphere' off Bermuda in the 1930s (the bathysphere being a sort of cast iron bubble with tiny windows, which was winched off the side of a boat, and dropped down to a depth of half a mile underwater). But in my mind's eye Beebe was more like a David Niven sort of person, because as well as having a passionate interest in exploring the natural world, he was a really gifted writer, had an enormous sense of humour, and was quite dapper and a great believer in cocktails all round in the late afternoon! And when he wasn't travelling the world, he was feted in New York society circles by people like Katherine Hepburn, Noel Coward and Rudyard Kipling. The book is really enjoyable and easy to read, and quite inspiring too - transporting you back to a bygone age. And it has LOADS of pictures, which bring it to life all the more. Lovely - good antidote to grim winter weather!

Beebe led a fascinating life, mixing with scientists, actors, artists, and the likes of his mentor Theodore Roosevelt. He was so famous that cartoons featuring his familiar visage were a frequent fixture in The New Yorker. This socializing was both part of his genial and charismatic personality, and a necessity for obtaining the unprecidented amount of funding needed from wealthy patrons to support his grand research vision and its many expeditions. Beebe was a pivotal figure in science. he was the first to study a specific group of animals (the pheasants) in the wild to reconstruct their evolution and behavioral ecology. Before that, naturalists mainly just collected things. He invented tropical ecology by setting up a field station and studying the interactions of every plant and animal in a carefully delimited areas. Beebe was also the one who discovered how to study coral reef communities, and first to penetrate the ocean depths in his bathysphere to find that the deep sea is rich in life. The book covers Beebe's development as a innovative and relentless scientist in an engaging narrative, never too technical but never superficial. The book contains countless indispensible photos spanning his entire career. The text also brings to life Beebe's fascinating personality: his astonishing gift with words, which made him a consistently best-selling author; his fearlessness; his love of extravagant parties; his restless energy; his insights into and devotion to conservation. Here is a scientist and person worth knowing about, and a book that does him justice. This is the most enjoyable biography I've read in years.